Will Pope Francis's encyclical become his 'miracle' that saved the planet?

[damnedifIknow]

There’s a chance it will, for two reasons. First, the moral force the pope brings to bear may kindle that most fragile necessity: political will. Second, his declaration of the atmosphere as a common good, owned by all for all, may help settle the enduring argument about which nations have the responsibility to act. The rich owe the poor, he says.

Climate change, the mass extinction of species and the poisoning of the oceans have been unfolding like slow-motion disasters for decades and universally damage the lives of the poor for the benefit of the rich. The science is now beyond any reasonable dispute and the economic benefit of acting is clear.

Yet for many people these planetary crises have not felt, deep down, like moral issues. They are too distant in time and space, affecting people we don’t know and creatures we have never heard of. As coal, oil and gas continue to be burned, and emissions rise, the risk of floods, famines, heatwaves and refugees that will affect us all rises. And yet so little has been achieved to curb the use of fossil fuels."

*Some may think the pope’s moral authority is overstated, given the Catholic church’s differences with much of the modern world on contraception and homosexuality and the corrosive child abuse cover-ups. Yet Pope Francis is more often seen in a positive light than a negative one.

Only time will reveal the true impact of the encyclical on the greatest long-term challenge facing civilisation. But if the moral argument it presents moves the problem from one that “should” be tackled sometime to one that “must” be tackled now, it will have performed a remarkable act.

Perhaps one might even call it a miracle."


http://www.theguardian.com/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2015/jun/18/will-pope-franciss-encyclical-become-his-miracle-that-saved-the-planet

[cloudythescribbler]

1. If Pope Francis decides to found a new Catholic order devoted to the issues in this encyclical ....

THAT could be one of a number of needed game-changers on the planet.

I have written this suggestion in letters to the editor at The New York Times and the Guardian, and advocated it elsewhere as well, so far with no serious traction. When John Paul II was Pope, there was much calling upon him to found a religious order devoted to fighting against abortion rights. But of course, that was a rightwing cause and had much more publicity

[delrem]

3. Remember, this Pope made the previous Popes into saints.

I'm old fashioned and don't see how there can be any real and substantive change without self-criticism.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

4. Great idea. n/t

n/t

[delrem]

2. I totally like it.

It contradicts the "grab what you can and leave the cleanup to God" purist-capitalist line of fundamentalist Christianity, that sermonizes about how God gives private profit to the good, and punishes the evil with penury and death.

[Psephos]

5. history has emphatically shown that religion and science are not good bedfellows n/t

[Motown_Johnny]

6. Unlikely, Corporations are not Catholic

and will not consider reducing profits because of something the Pope says.

[raouldukelives]

7. But many of the people who support them are.

Or, were. We shall see.